1. Technical Field
The present application relates to a container handling device for handling containers, such as bottles or similar containers designed to hold a beverage or a similar product.
2. Background Information
Background information is for informational purposes only and does not necessarily admit that subsequently mentioned information and publications are prior art.
The present application concerns a container handling device for handling containers, such as bottles or similar containers designed to hold a beverage or a similar product. This application also relates to a container handling device that includes an inspection device for inspecting containers, for example bottles. Moreover, the inspection of at least one region of the container takes place optically by cameras or other devices for obtaining images or image information.
In some beverage bottle or beverage container inspection systems, empty bottles or similar containers are moved past an inspection device, wherein, for example, an optical inspection takes place from above, while a lighting device is arranged underneath or adjacent an area to be illuminated for inspection. Various regions of a bottle or of any other container can be checked, for example the bottle base or bottom, or the bottle mouth or neck area. To this end, taking photographs or other images of the regions of the containers with multiple cameras can be performed.
Some inspection devices for inspecting bottles or similar containers can be designed to inspect the inside of a bottle after cleaning for undesirable objects, contaminants, dirt and/or damage, such as scratches or chips or other such flaws or damage. In one example, five cameras are arranged on one optical channel. Inside the optical channel, optical elements such as beam splitters or lenses are provided so that each camera can observe the allocated region. Consecutive beam splitters thereby provide different penetration and reflection values in each case. Beam splitters or beam-splitting optical elements, as described herein and in accordance with one possible embodiment, are partially transparent optical elements that reflect part of the light incident thereon, and that transmit part of the light incident thereon. These types of optical elements can have different transparency values and reflection values.